jobsDB Happiness Meter Poll 2015. Thais Agree: Happy is a Better Job

Is happy really a better job? If we are to look closely at the jobsDB Thailand Happy Meter report, the relationship between happiness and improved employment has never been clearer.

The report reveals that 48.6% of survey respondents claim that their employment makes them “quite happy,” and 9.7% say that they are “very happy” with their current jobs.

So what makes people happy with their jobs? Respondents who are “quite happy” and “very happy” with their jobs say that satisfaction with their roles and the job that they do is the primary reason of their happiness. Twenty-five percent of respondents claim that they are happy with their jobs because of the relationships they have established with their colleagues and direct superior, while 21% say they are satisfied with their salaries. Breaking the results into employment levels, satisfaction with colleague relationships is actually the top reason across most levels, with salary satisfaction making most supervisors happy.

Also contributing to Thai employees’ happiness at work are the work-life balance their job offers and the incentive and benefit package they get as part of their remuneration.

But then, the report reveals that a majority of Thai employees see themselves staying with their companies for only three years at most. Thirty-eight percent say that they will be with their current job for at least one to three more years, while 27% may be looking for better opportunities within a year.

Furthermore, 32% of the JobsDB survey respondents belong to the supervisory level. Employees with 1 to 3 years’ experience accounted for 31% of the respondents, while only 9% are entry level employees. This may mean that many employees, despite already being employed for a considerable period and having some sort of tenure in one company, do include moving to greener pastures in their short-term career plans.

On the other hand, 36% say that they are “quite unhappy” and 6% are “very unhappy” with their jobs. The highest incidence of this unhappiness can be found in the managerial level (44% unhappy) and supervisory level (43%).

Asked what factors makes them unhappy with their current jobs, dissatisfaction with company processes and systems that cannot help them perform their work well came out on top, particularly with supervisors, managers, and directors. Salary dissatisfaction, a factor most people would expect to be the most popular reason for job unhappiness came only second, and is a common reason for entry level employees and junior executives. Meanwhile, sixteen percent of unhappy employees claim to be dissatisfied with the roles and the job that they do.

Bearing in mind these findings of the report, does a better job indeed equate to happiness? The first thing to consider is that more than a majority of the survey’s respondents are happy with their current job. Additionally, more than half see themselves looking for greener pastures in three years, which can be safely assumed are those who are still currently unhappy with their jobs. Thus, Thai employees have very little to no hesitation in leaving their current jobs if they are not happy anymore.

This behavior very well means that employees who are currently happy with their jobs have already taken the leap and have moved on to employment opportunities that provide them with satisfaction in relation to their job roles, suitable relationships with their bosses and colleagues, and salaries they are contented with.

With these factors now revealed by the jobsDB report, it should be easier for unhappy employees to follow the lead of those who have already found happiness with their jobs by looking for opportunities which prove that indeed, happy is a better job.

The jobsDB Thailand Happy Meter Report for 2015 was conducted in April 2015. A total of 1,452 candidates responded, 83 percent of which hail from Bangkok and surrounding areas and the rest mostly coming from the Eastern and Central (outside Bangkok) Regions, with Administration and Human Resources, Accounting, Information Technology, and Sales, Customer Service, and Business Development and Marketing being the most represented specializations. Respondents work in various industries, with Financial Services, Information Technology, and Trading and Distribution the most represented.